Not the first person you would
imagine knocking out an anti-American political song - George Michael.
Certainly it is not the first time George has wandered down the route of
po-facedness - both Songs From The Twentieth Century and Listen Without
Predjudice (Volume 1 lest we forget) were excrutiatingly self important, but
it is probably the first time he has attempted satire. At least that is what
he says he is doing in Shoot The Dog, a lighthearted funk workout on the
so-called special relationship between George W.Bush and Tony Blair. The
only discernable lyric which seems to refer to this is the lame double
entendre of George telling “Tony, there’s something ’bout that Bush that
ain’t right”.

Apparently written before
September 11th and shelved until now the song is a wholesale rip of the
Human Leagues ‘Love Action’. Indeed the fact that it has the stylings of a
bootleg and plays to the electroclash camp is something that suggests that
actually it was written about two months ago. Not that George has done much
writing here, he does his “not even cool enough to be crap Prince” gruntings,
mumbles over a loop of the dullest part of Love Action and completely misses
out anything resembling a chorus or a breakdown. Indeed the track is so
desperate that for its grand finale George - just plays a big chunk of Love
Action. Its always nice to hear Phil - but it merely reminds you how bereft
of ideas Shoot The Dog is and also conjures up the spectre of other
so-called political singles. Like The Lebanon.

In the end George is trying to
court controversy again, and as savvy a media manipulator that he is, there
is not much left of the outrage-o-meter for him to try. We’ve don’t the
polysexual bondage video (to cod funk workout) now its not very radical
political views (to cod funk workout) - with a scrapily animated video that
portrays him in bed with Cherie Blair - the threat is what there George?
This will limp into the top ten at best and only deserves such a high
placing because it contains at least one line of political comment that
might resonate with modern politics. And it comes from Phil Oakey when he
says “I believe in truth though I lie a lot” - and no beating about the
bush.

www.musicomh.com
July 2002 new
Michael Hubbarb
...Shoot The Dog was written, arranged, performed and produced by Michael,
albeit with the help of a sample of
Human League's
Love Action (I Believe In Love). The final result is a somewhat flaccid
mish-mash of vocals, sampled synths and rhythm which borders on being funky.

But the deep-end vocals
are largely illegible, while Michael's characteristic high-end work lands
somewhere between self-parody and Barry Gibb.
And the music seems like a genetic fusion of Outside and his earlier
controversial hit I Want Your Sex.

Despite that, with the lack
of perceptible hooks of any kind, the whole affair largely washes over the
listener, leaving one wondering what all the fuss was about. But we know, of
course. Good marketing, a politically motivated video and an attempt to
maintain his A-list credentials lie behind Shoot The Dog. But really, this
mut is barking up the wrong tree.